A scarcity of viola & cello duos

Since as far back as my high school cello days (decades ago!), I've sought out duets to read with my violist friends. If you've searched, too, you probably relate to my perennial disappointment in there being only a few concert-worthy duets available for viola & cello - the best known, of course, being Duet With Two Eyeglasses Obligato, by Beethoven.

Origin of an idea

In 2014, however, I was working with my chamber group - the Pernambuco Chamber Ensemble - and found myself adding to the repertoire for this instrumentation. We were developing a program for one of our upcoming concerts, and our pianist, Daniel Goodman, wanted us to demonstrate the relationship between, and then combine, some of the music of Bach and Piazzolla. For part of this program, he wrote a tango-style arrangement, for viola, cello, & piano, of the Bourrées from Bach's 3rd Unaccompanied Cello Suite. In response, I wrote a simple jazz arrangement of the Courante, with viola playing the original line, and cello playing walking bass. I then went on to compose straight duo arrangements of the Prelude, Allemande, and Sarabande movements to lead into the Bourrées, which in turn segued into Piazzola's Grand Tango for Cello and Piano.

All 6 Bach Suites

Now hooked on the process and its results, I arranged for viola and cello duo the entire 3rd Suite, now with a period-appropriate version of the Courante. Because of the enthusiastic reception of my arrangement of the 3rd Suite, I took on the goal of arranging all six Suites for this combination. Using my familiarity with Bach's keyboard, chamber, and orchestral writing as my reference point, I endeavored to composed the parts as closely as possible to the way I imagined Bach might have done so, himself (except, of course, for that one jazz movement!).

Publishing the arrangements

There has already been so much demand for the sheet music that I've been eager to make all my arrangements available for purchase as quickly as possible. Because there is a great deal of technical work and editing involved in preparing each one for publication, I'm releasing them one at a time so people can begin to play them. In addition to the 6 Suites, I have also arranged Bach's 3 Sonatas for Viola da Gamba & Continuo and Schubert's “Arpeggione” Sonata, each for viola, cello, and piano or harpsichord, respectively, all of which will be released soon after the Suites.

I will keep you posted!

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